Conservatives unveil superfast broadband plan

Shadow chancellor George Osborne said his party was willing to loosen BT's grip on the local telephone network and use parts of the BBC licence fee to deliver "superfast" broadband to the majority of Britain's homes by 2017, reports The Guardian . Using "market-based solutions" the party believes the UK can be the first leading European country to have speeds of "up to" 100 megabits per second (Mbps), Osborne said. He added that "the Conservatives would support changes to the regulatory framework," adding that allowing private investors to pay for better cabling would encourage competition. If the market failed to deliver, then 3.5% of the licence fee, currently used to pay for digital switchover, could be diverted to pay for broadband expansion, Osborne said. That would raise between £750m and £1bn on the basis of 25m TV licences. Labour has committed to extending broadband to 90% of homes by 2012 at 2Mbps. It has also planned a 50p a month levy – a "broadband tax" – which will be used to fund "next generation broadband" for areas where the market is unlikely to deliver. This levy is expected to raise between £1-1.5bn by 2017. But Osborne claimed his plans were more ambitious than those of the government. "In the 19th century we built the railways," he said. "In the 20th century we built the motorways. In the 21st century let's build the superfast broadband network that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs for Britain." He said the Conservatives would end BT's local loop monopoly and allow other operators to move in with their own ducts and fibre cables, an approach that has proved successful in countries such as Singapore and South Korea. "I think the best way to deliver this is by breaking up the British Telecom monopoly at the moment, which holds back companies such as Carphone Warehouse or Virgin," he said. "If we find the market can't do that, then use the BBC licence fee, the digital switch over money in the BBC licence fee, to get broadband out to the rest of the country. Shadow culture, media and sport secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "These regulatory changes will create the right conditions for sustainable growth and ensure that the digital sector plays a leading role in a competitive, balanced economy." But financial secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms said: "On broadband it's not Britain but the Tories that are playing catch-up. Labour have already announced measures for rolling out broadband across the country – and the Tories have opposed the plans to make that happen."